lunedì 21 aprile 2014

Jackal - Awake (Radioactive Records) 1973

Jackal is a very little known Canadian band which started its career in late 60' but wasn't able to record an album until 1973. Their 1st (and only effort) called "Awake" is a mix of heavy psych, hard rock & early progressive rock typical for late 60s and early 70s. I can also hear quite many southern rock and slightly pop-rock influences typical of American music from those days. Anyway I think that this album seemed to be a bit dated back than in 1973 (however some sources point that in fact it was recorded in 1971, and just released in 1973), when most of prog-band preferred long suites, classical-sounding approach and usage of new types of keyboards (like Moog or ARP). But to be honest I don't care at all because I have to admit that I simply dig this sort of "heavy prog" style very much. And every- time when I'm tired of my usual full-blown, highly technical and self-indulgent organ-driven symphonic prog, I like to play such more simple, almost radio-friendly but still pretty heavy and (of course!) organ-driven music as presented on Jackal's debut. Review by ozzy tom progarchives.com

Tracklist:
01.At The Station 5:45
02.For You 3:08
03.Sunny Side of the Day 2:48
04.A New Day Has Arisen 8:22
05.How The Time Has Flown 5:56
06.Lost In The World 2:26
07.In The Heavens 4:06
08.Awake 7:57

3 commenti:

Ummm...Jackal is one of the biggest mysteries I've encountered in my years of digging for obscurities albums. It is impossible to tell who on the album's credits was definitely in the band and who were session players though bootlegs copies on CD releases by the Laser's Edge and Labyrinth labels,Radioactive also reissued the collection in 2004 have cited the Kellesis brothers, Bernard and Shannon as key members.

Jackal was formed in Toronto 1969,trio was founded by the Kellesis brothers (Chris on keyboards and Jack on bass) with high school friend Charlie Shannon on vocals, born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1946, he migrated to Canada sponsored by his older sister when he was just 16 years old in back in 1962, he had a very strong Scottish accent that he never lost, but was somehow masked in his singing!

With the band rounded out by guitarists Steve Hayward and Dave Bernard, and drummer Lois Mutton, they worked with producers Dan Goldberg and Bob Stright in the spring of '73. They became one of the first acts to record for Snider's Sound Canada studio was a recording factory and cranked out one-off records monthly, if not weekly, utilizing a multitude of studio and session players, releasing their debut album, AWAKE a few months later.

The bulk of the writing on the eight tracks was done by the Kellesis brothers, with Hayward penning two himself - the tempo-changing flowery-acid trip "Sunny Side Of The Day" and "Lost In The World."